Endings and Beginnings
by fredsavage
Summary: Kate and CJ are about to be jobless and might just be OK about it.


Commander Kate Harper quietly walks up behind the taller Chief of Staff as she watches the television with all the pre-inauguration coverage; Matt Santos' face fills many of the screens. The room is filled with Bartlett staffers and they all wear identical faces that seem to be combinations of sadness and elation. C.J. looks weary on top of that and Kate discreetly curls warm fingers around the taller woman's hand that hangs at her side. C.J. looks over at the blonde security advisor, she mouths a 'hey' and gives a warm squeeze to the fingers that have absently started to twist the thin band of diamonds that adorns her ring finger.

C.J. can remember the day the ring found its way onto her finger last summer. It was the end of a well-earned but short vacation to a warm beach resort in a country that C.J. can't quite remember. She recalls they had spent most of their time in bed, laying on the beach or eating. She can remember waking up with her nose pressed into a warm neck, fingers playing delicately along the sensitive skin of her lower back. She remembers Kate's low voice in her ear telling her she loved her, adored her, remembers murmuring back love and devotion and feeling Kate push something cool and metal onto her finger. She had stilled and looked up at Kate questioningly, shyly; asking her what was going on. C.J. remembers Kate asking for forever, promising her whole heart and she remembers saying yes.

"What are you thinking about?" Kate whispers, noticing the small smile gracing C.J.'s face.

Turning, "Hmmm?" C.J. answers absently. "You, of course."

Kate laughs as she murmurs, "Let me take you home?"

"Certainly. Give me ten minutes? " C.J. answers distractedly before turning back to the televisions.

Kate nods once, and because they are almost finished with this, the secrecy, the concealment, she nudges her cheek against the almost former Chief of Staff's shoulder before turning and walking away absently turning the slim band of diamonds around her own finger.

Kate can remember the day the ring founds its way onto her own finger this past fall. She still has no idea how C.J. found the exact ring, so hers matched the one that had been bought while overseas in Croatia. She is pretty sure one of two people on her staff cracked and spilled the beans to her partner. She remembers they were moving, done with living separately, holding back. The need to sleep next to each other each and every night with no negotiation outweighing any consequences they could come up with. Could they pull off just a few more months of anonymity, discretion? Kate remembers lying down on their new leather couch in the middle of their brownstone in Georgetown, surrounded by boxes and windows with gauzy white curtains and just closing her eyes for a moment and promptly falling asleep. She remembers waking up to C.J. leaving kisses on her face and kissing her fingers and the ring and I love yous and tears. Smiling to herself she remembers being naked very soon after that.

C.J. walks into her office to see her partner sitting on the couch, eyes closed and brow furrowed.

She sits down next to the blonde haired woman and gently takes her hand, leaving a quick kiss on her ring finger.

"Hey." She whispers into Kate's ear.

Kate's eyes flutter open to take in the face of her beloved, "Hey."

"You OK?" C.J. asks sitting back on the couch.

"Yes, I think so anyways." Kate turns to look at C.J. more fully, winding their fingers together.

"What do you mean, you think so?" C.J. murmurs, leaning to leave tiny kisses on Kate's forehead and cheek and low on her jaw, causing the other woman to sigh into C.J.'s neck leaving a kiss there herself.

She sits up to look C.J. in the eye, "You looked so sad in there watching the coverage, will you miss this? Will teaching be enough for you?" Kate trails off and looks down at their hands clasped together.

C.J. is silent as she looks down at Kate's thumbs as she draws circles on the tops of C.J.'s hands. She untangles one to nudge Kate's chin up to look her in the eye.

"Hey, look at me." She waits until Kate's eyes met hers. "Yes. It will be enough. I think I will miss this but… I want _**this**_ much more." She finishes squeezing the warm fingers entwined with her own.

Kate's leans forward so their faces are close, she smiles and whispers, "This?"

C.J. nods and kisses Kate's forehead, "Yes, this, us." She leaves one more kiss and then leans back on the couch and gazes out across the office, smiling. "Yes, I want a life that doesn't revolve around this _house_ but our house. I want sleeping next to each other every night and dinner at our dining room table. I want to take vacations whenever we want; I want Sunday papers and your strong coffee. I want to read books, actual books of fiction."

They both laugh at this.

She trails off and turns to face Kate, "I want to have a life where we go out for breakfast and then walk to the farmer's market and then make a meal, have friends over and we don't talk politics or national security but music and the Smithsonian. God, when I say it, it sounds very cheesy but I don't care that is what I want. That kind of life is what I, we deserve. Will that be enough for _**you**_?" C.J. finishes quietly.

She edges closer to her partner on the couch, their shoulders now touching. She looks earnestly into Kate's eyes. She would do anything for her.

Kate nods, "Mhmm, that all sounds lovely." She cocks her head to the side and takes in the lines of C.J.'s face, neck, and the beloved crinkles around her smiling eyes. "I want naked sleeping, no late night phones ringing, meals with only people we actually like, not ones we are supposed to like. I want to go to baseball games and eat hot dogs, go to the movies and eat popcorn and make out like horny teenagers in the back of the theater."

By the end of Kate' rambling, C.J. is laughing heartily and already leaning forward to take the woman in a fierce kiss. "Yes, yes, yes." Each yes is punctuated with a chaste kiss to full lips. "To all those things. Can we go now?"

"Of course, sweetheart. Let's go. I think I want naked sleeping to be crossed off our list first."


End file.
